We welcome the reintroduction of an important piece of worker’s rights legislation in Congress — the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
The bill would protect workers’ right to join a union by, among other things, holding employers accountable when they violate workers’ rights.
“The PRO Act will loosen billionaires’ grip on our economic future and make clear that their days of using illegal union busting tactics without consequence are over,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a release. “This legislation will level the playing field, giving workers the legal protections they need to organize without fear of retaliation or obstruction.”
At a time of deep political divisions in our country, the PRO Act is supported by a bipartisan group of House members and senators. The lawmakers called it “a comprehensive proposal to protect workers’ right to come together and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces.”
The PRO Act would protect workers’ basic right to join a union by:
- Imposing strong penalties for companies and executives that violate workers’ rights;
- Expanding collective bargaining rights and closing loopholes that corporations use to exploit workers; and
- Strengthening workers’ access to fair union elections and requiring corporations to respect the results.
Although workers have the right to form a union, they often face retaliation and harassment from their employers as soon as they begin to organize. Employers, in return, face few if any consequences for violating workers’ rights.
The PRO Act, which has been introduced several times in past years, comes at a time of rising union popularity across the country. It is named after the late president of the AFL-CIO.
Saunders said that as opinion polls show unions are more popular than ever, billionaires and wealthy companies want more control over workers’ lives.
“Working people want to be paid fairly,” he said. “They want benefits like health care, a fair retirement, to know their jobs are secure and that their workplaces are safe and free from discrimination. They know the best way to secure these freedoms is through a union contract.”
Unless workers can organize freely, anti-union extremism will continue to deepen economic inequality, Saunders said, “halting progress on health and safety, and harming millions.
“It’s about time Congress prioritized workers over billionaires and gave them a fair shot at improving their workplaces,” he added.